Today I bought some marble tiles, spray glue, wet dry sand paper and made sharpening slabs. I have seen many people suggest that this is a good precursor to the wet stone. So I started on the 180 grit. Now 4 hours later the back of the spokeshave blade is still not done, and I have swapped out the 180 for another piece. In the videos it always looks like they get it done rather quickly. Perhaps it is me.

So that is what I blogged about tonight. If you are curious to see what 4 hours of 180 grit will do to an antique spokeshave blade, feel free to check out the photos.

5 comments so far

Hi Brian,When lapping the back of a blade or restoring a bevel you need to go to the coarsest grit that will get the job done. If there is stiill a low spot on the back of blade after a couple of minutes go coarser by one grit (150). If after a minute at 150 there is still a low spot go to 120. You may need to go as low as 80 grit to get if flat (you’ll have been really unlucky with the blade). Once you’ve got the coarest grit that flattens the back you can then back up the grits really quickly. Don’t forget to change angle at whcih you lap the blade between grits. When you’ve removed the 45 degree striae with a 90 degree rub you’re done at that grit.

This is a situation is when sticky back sandpaper is your friend. I use the Norton Champagne paper and it works well. It’s spendy (around $40 a roll) but a roll will last a long time. If you live near a marine chandlery (I do) you can buy it by the foot.

Rather than a tile I’d suggest looking for some 1/4 plate glass (not tempered) and get several pieces – 12”x6” and a 12”x12”. I’d use the first as a lapping plane and the second as a honing plate. Being able to stick down multiple grits at once can save a lot of time.